


Tower of Trials

by pyromania2667



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Animal Death, Blood and Violence, Fantasy, Gen, Mages, Magic, Magic-Users, Mayhem, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Necromancy, One Shot, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Original Fiction, Skeletons, Sorcerers, Sorceresses, Spells & Enchantments, Teenagers, Trials, Violence, Wizards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:28:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24176662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyromania2667/pseuds/pyromania2667
Summary: When the time has come for a young mage to graduate their first stage of teachings, Kayla, Laura and Amber must overcome the Tower of Trails to prove their mettle and demonstrate teamwork. After-all, teamwork is the path they chose.This is one of the earlier pieces when writing was a lawless wasteland for me.





	Tower of Trials

“Are you ready to face the tower of trials, my young pupils?” Archmage Andrea asked.

The trio of sorceresses exchanged glances with each other, as they looked up toward the towering structure in front of them, they looked back at each other and nodded in unison.

“I think we’re ready, after all, this is what we’ve been training for all this time, right?.” Laura replied

“Ah, good luck my dearest students, I know you will do well. The three of you show great potential together. RiverFalls will not go easy.” With that being said, the Archmage opened the doors, allowing the girls to pass in

"Don't forget, each room only has so much time allotted, it will always vary, but you will know when time is almost up." Andrea's voice trailed as the door closed behind them. They were in pitch black darkness now. In a flash, torches light up the room in a warm glow. The trio stood only a few feet apart from each other.

A disembodied voice echoed throughout the circular room, “Welcome to your first trial, here we’ll test your combat capabilities, demonstrate your skills and vanquish your enemies.”

Each of them raised their magical focus in preparation for combat. Amber carried a gem, vaguely representing the shape of a traditional wand. Kayla carried a glittery, golden want, specs of light glisten from it occasionally. Laura carried a petrified tree branch.

A gate on the east and west side of the room opened, allowing a flurry of icy elementals out.

“Elementals,” Amber noted, “Usually you’d want to try to use the opposite type of magic they are against them, So it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

With a whim and a whir from her wand, Amber conjured a fireball to strike down the ice elementals.

With a loud crash, the blazing sphere erupted in the middle of all the elementals. Embers of fire spread out in all directions.

“It’s a good thing I specialize in pyromancy.”

“Nice one Amber,” Kayla replied, “But try to be more careful, you nearly hit me! You know that I have poor elemental resistance.”

“Save some of your stronger incantations for later Amber, It’s only going to get more difficult...” Laura warns. “Do you have any idea how many people have failed the tower of trials?”

“I’d bet many do,” Amber replied, “but remember, the tower of trials is different for everyone, group or solo.”

"Exactly, so who knows how many rooms we have to face, it could be just a few more or several tens!" Kayla exclaimed.

The gates opened once more, allowing a pair of imps to emerge from each side.

“Imps? Imps are just like corrupted pyromancers right?”

“Yeah, kind of?” Laura replied, “They do seem to like setting things ablaze.”

Just then a pair of fireballs came darting toward Laura

Kayla reacted quickly and raised her wand, with a whim and a whir, a translucent shield appeared beside Laura and Amber, blocking the impact of the fireballs. Kayla winces as she takes a few stray blasts to the legs.

“Good one, Kayla.” Amber cheered

“Thanks, but we need to be more careful.” Kayla replies as she brushes off her shins.

“Let’s not let our guard down so fast,” Laura stated as she raised her wand. With a whim and a whir, she shackled the imps by the wrist, preventing them from casting spells with their hands. “It’s not like they’re going to wait for us.”

“Right,” Amber replied

Kayla raised her wand, with a whim and a whir, rays of incandescence beamed from her wand, a direct hit to one of the imps left it in the dust; casting the same spell, Kayla defeated the remaining imp.

The door at the opposite side from where they entered slowly opened and the trio advanced.

“Welcome to your second trial, here we’ll test your ability to work as a team and reach the end of the room.”

Torches near them lit up, a lengthy chasm stretched seemingly endlessly across the room

Kayla and Amber simultaneously cast a spell, illuminating the room.

Kayla shook her head softly, "You know I can handle Light easier than you, so you should wait a little next time."

In front of them was a single platform not too far ahead of them floating motionlessly above the gaping abyss.

“Hmm, I don’t have a spell to get us across... safely...” Amber pouted.

“There are many ways to get across, but the using the platform may be the safest option” Laura noted, pausing for a moment. With a whim and a whir from her wand, a pair of spectral figures appeared atop the floating platform, With a wave from her hand, she signaled for the apparitions to push the platform toward her, but the platform would not budge.

“And what was that supposed to do exactly?” Amber asked.

Laura doesn’t give any reaction.

“There might be something keeping it in place...” Kayla replied.

“If my familiars can’t move it, then whatever is keeping that platform in place is probably quite powerful.” Laura exclaimed.

“Maybe we can try to build a path to the platform? It’s only like 10 feet away, that’s not too far.”

“Yeah, but the end of the hall is like 50 feet away, and the platform doesn’t want to move.” Laura replied.

“Let me try something...” said Kayla. With a whim and a whir from her wand, a translucent path of light connected from the platform to where the trio stood. Kayla cautiously tapped her foot against the path. “It seems sturdy, I’ll go first.” Gingerly, Kayla advanced across her path and carefully set one foot atop the platform. Kayla gave a quick yelp as her foot was encased in ice. “Oh! Freezing trap!”

“Hold on Kayla!” Amber shouted as she raced toward her.

“No! Stop! Don’t!” Kayla pleads.

But it was too late, with a whim and a whir from her wand, Amber shot out a small burst of flames, but as the ice melted, new flakes were fresh on her feet.

“Wait! I’ll try to neutralize the ice magic, stop casting spells!” Laura shouted. With a whim and a whir from her wand, Laura attempted to counterspell the icy field that she know knew covered the platform. “Okay, now you may free Kayla.”

Once Kayla was freed, the trio took a moment's rest upon the platform.

“I can’t make a path that long to reach the other side, I was lucky this one was stable enough to for us to pass,” said Kayla.

Laura gave Amber and Kayla a stoic stare as she reaches her hands out toward the two of them. The two of them exchanged glances before looking back at Laura.

“Laura..?” Kayla asked, “Are... wait... I know that look, you want to try levitation again. Come on, at least try to say something next time.”

“Are you crazy?! Levitation?! You know how draining that can be since none of us here are even good at it.” Amber complained.

“While there might be another way, levitation may be our best option right now.” Kayla replied, “Laura’s phantoms don’t interact well with organic creatures, so they can’t carry us, and I can’t make a path stable enough for such a long distance. So levitation just might work...”

“Ugh, fine...” Amber pouted.

The trio formed a circle and held hands with each other, channeling their powers together, the force of their magic combined is enough to allow them to steadily rise above the platform. As they advanced forward a problem quickly emerged.

“There’s no platform.” Amber blurted, “Just a... doorknob..!”

“Remain calm...” Laura replied, taking a deep breath, “We can’t break concentration... slow breaths.”

“Amber... don't...” Kayla said, shaking her head softly, “That’s not...”

It was too late, Amber used all her might to swing her foot at the door, the trio simultaneously winced as her foot connected, almost breaking the connection. The door still stood firm.

“We... have no... choice..!” Amber squeaked.

Laura nodded

Amber made a desperate attempt at the doorknob, letting go of Kayla’s hand, the circle was broken.

All at once the girls fell while Amber pushed the door open with everything she had left. Amber fell in, Laura falling atop her, but Kayla couldn't keep up. She grasped her hand at the bottom of the door frame, barely hanging on. Laura and Amber scrambled to their knees, grasping at Kayla’s wrists, hoisting her up.

“That was too close.” Amber said as Laura comforted Kayla.

“Well... well at least we made it...” Kayla replied, letting out a deep sigh.

After about a minute of respite, a familiar voice echoed through the room. “Welcome to your third trial. Here we’ll test your ability to function separately in order to reunite.”

With that, the room went pitch black followed by a low rumbling noise. The torches lit up the room once more.

The trio was separated.

Kayla checked her surroundings, the room she stood in was dead silent. Checking around for a moment, there was only a wall behind her. “Amber?! Laura?!” She shouted, but she got no answer, figuring there was nothing else she could do, she knew she had to move forward, while it was dim, she could make out something far at the end of the hall.

Laura examined her surroundings, critters were squeaking and she could hear a faint murmur from down the dimmed hallway, Treading lightly, she approached the voice, upon reaching closer the voices halted. The pressure of dozens of eyes was upon her, Laura raised her wand defensively and prepared for combat as figures emerged from the shadows. Looking down Laura gazed at a rodent very close to her, “It’s not real... it’s just part of the trial...” she said under her breath. With that, Laura squashed the rodent from beneath her foot and tried to raise it to fight for her, but before she could finish the spell she was stricken with an unnatural fear as the shadows emerged. They didn’t gain any form, but rather a black mist that encroached upon her, it’s presence paralyzed her. Laura tore her eyes from the mist, looking down at the dead rodent by her foot and put all of her efforts into raising it by her force of will. Suddenly several rat skeletons burst out from the corpse and swept Laura off her feet and carried her off her back, she could feel her body regain control as she grew further from the black mist, finally able to stand up Laura saw a door at the end of the dim hall and sprinted toward it.

Amber looked around, walls surrounded her sides, but as she looked up, she noticed a rather low ceiling that had holes in it. She had a premonition of danger as she looked toward it, followed by a faint rumbling sound. She began walking forward at a brisk pace, careful not to cause too much noise. A tiny rock fell from the ceiling and hit her head, looking up, Amber saw that it was not a rock, but rather water dripping from the ceiling. Amber felt a sharp jolt of energy for a moment and noticed her wand sparking, “That’s NOT good.” Amber thought to herself, “There’s definitely something extraordinary about this water.” Soon the water came rushing down, and Amber picked up the pace into a sprint. She ran as far as she could before being stopped by a door at the end of the hall. “This is it... a dead end...” She thought out loud. She looked at her wand, sparks of fire emitted from it, “I don’t know how much longer this my wand will last, but I must press the water back.” With a whim and a whir from her wand Amber streamed out a torrent of fire at the water. Steam hissed at her as the fire repelled the water, how much longer she could hold this for, Amber did not know, as she looked back at the door there was a handle near the floor. Frantically Amber leaned down and attempted to open the door with but it wouldn’t budge.

Kayla continued down the dreary hall, she heard something faint call her name, “Laura? Amber? Is that you?” She shouted back, but whatever was trying to communicate with her was indistinct. Kayla looked back at where she began walking from, the voice emanating from there. Torn, she didn’t know whether to continue down the hall or return to the voice. Compassion got the better of her and she returned to the voice she heard. The voice grew softer as she approached it until she was at the wall she started at, Kayla looked around, but the hall felt emptier than before; Kayla flinched as something tugged on her robe’s hem. A small light aberration stood at her foot, she picked it up and it vanished. A warm glow emanated from the wall beside her and a small handle appeared at the base of it. Kayla looked at the small handle and reluctantly pulled on it. The door flew open and a tsunami of water rushed in, Amber was barreled toward Kayla as the water dissipates into the hall,

Amber coughed and sputtered, “Kayla! I’m so glad you’re here!” She said hugging her tightly, “I don’t know how you made it to me, but you came in the nick of time!”

Kayla looked around for a moment, “I’m so glad to finally be with someone again! Have you seen Laura by chance?”

“No, I hope she’s okay!” Amber responds letting go of Kayla, “We need to help her wherever she may be...”

There was a loud scratching at the end of the hall.

Kayla looked toward Amber for reassurance, Amber nodded back and the two of them ran toward the noise.

“How do we know this has to deal with Laura, and not something terrible?” Amber asked

Kayla shook her head, “It’s our only chance. I don’t want Laura to deal with some terrible fate on her own.”

There was a door at the end of the hall, and a small rat skeleton slid out from the slit beneath the door

“Necromancy...” Kayla noted, “This has to be her!”

Amber gazed at the door, a shroud of inky blackness coating the door.

Laura kept running, nearly tripping over her own feet as she reached a door at the end of the hall. There was no handle, but only a slit underneath the door. She cautiously knelt down and looked beneath the door, only to see 2 pairs of feet.

“Amber? Kayla? Is that you?” Laura shouted eagerly.

“Laura?! It’s us! There’s some weird enchantment covering this door.” Amber replied.

“It’s resisting my magic.” Kayla chimed in.

“There’s no door handle,” Laura responded, “Give me a moment to think...”

A shallow murmur followed closely behind Laura, looking back, the shadows were quickly closing upon her, “No, no no..! I need to think! FAST!” she thought to herself

Amber chucked her wand at the inky black enchantment covering the door, the wand bounced softly off of it, as it hit the ground it explodes in a puff of smoke on impact.

“My explosive wand isn’t working!” Amber shouted.

Laura looked beneath the door again, and reached one hand under, “Someone! Grab my fingers!” With a whim and a whir from her free hand, Laura readied a spell

Without thinking, Kayla reached under the door and grasped at Laura’s fingers. An overwhelming sense of dread invaded Kayla’s thoughts as Laura entered her body. As the rest of Laura’s body flowed into Kayla, the apparitions grabbed at Laura’s leg.

Laura’s desperate attempt at possessing Kayla’s body was interrupted, and she felt herself fading out of their plane of existence. Kayla’s will to hold onto Laura was stronger than the shadows grabbing at her, putting all of her thoughts into who Laura is, she kept her being within her. As the possession failed Laura was violently ejected out of Kayla’s body, her body was only a black silhouette of herself, before she regaining color and definition after a moment.

Laura lies on the ground, incapacitated. Kayla is breathing heavily after dealing with the trauma of a failed possession and keeping Laura intact.

Amber looks at the door, the inky black coating began to fade away. She looks at the ground and picks her wand back up.

“You guys alright?” Amber asks.

Kayla knelt on the ground, dazed, as Laura lies down, drifting out of consciousness.

The door behind them slowly opens, Amber is the only one able to notice it.

Desperately she looks back at her friends, whom of which are unable to respond to the problem at hand.

A shadow lurks out from the crack of the door and slowly approaches Amber.

Amber raises her wand, and with a whim and a whir, flames shoot out at the apparition, repelling it only for a moment. Looking back at her friends, Laura is still unconscious, and Kayla struggles to regain her composure.

Amber desperately tries to remember a spell to use, a slowly raises her wand. With a whim and a whir, the trio slowly melted into the ground beneath them.

Unsure on how long, or safely she can keep everyone inside the floor, Amber pushed herself toward her friends and pulled them toward where she reunited with Kayla.

Traveling through solid objects with her limited knowledge of the spell is an agonizingly slow process, but after what felt like ages, Amber finally reached the door at which she reunited with Kayla. The spell suddenly ended and the trio was shunted out of the ground atop the floor.

Kayla looks around, “I feel... weird... Did you bring us here?” She says turning to Amber.

Amber nods softly, the efforts of the spell has worn her out as well.

Laura wakes up, jolting upward, “Where... Is everything okay..?”

“Amber has brought us here with one of her gambits, fortunately, it worked out well for everyone this time.” Kayla replies, reassuring Laura.

Amber reaches her hands down to Laura and Kayla, helping the two up.

“Group hug!” They shout simultaneously.

“It’s so good to finally be safe with the two of you again!” Kayla exclaims, tearing up.

“Me too,” Laura replies.

“Same,” says Amber

“But now’s not the time for sentiment, I don’t know how much we have left, but we should get going, who knows what’s still waiting for us, wherever it may be in this room.” Laura states

The trio advances past the door and down the hallway where Kayla started. There’s a door at the end of the hall. 3 wand shaped holes fill the wall, the trio exchange glances and place their wands into the according slots. The door slowly opens and the trio advance past it.

They look around the new room, it’s incredibly tall, but otherwise, it has a relatively small diameter.

A familiar voice echoes throughout the room, “Do you wish to take a moment to rest?”

The trio looked at each other, Kayla nodded her head while Laura and Amber shook their head.

“No.” Laura responded

A familiar voice echoes throughout the room, “Welcome to your fourth trial, here we’ll test your ability to take out a larger, unique foe.”

“That doesn’t sound so good.” Kayla responds

Several slow stomps shook the room before the room lit up, revealing a colossal sized skeleton, easily twice the height of the trio stacked on each other.

“Holy...” Kayla muttered

“What... The heck?!” Amber mumbled.

Laura looked at the being in shock and awe.

The colossal skeleton stood there, wielding a club half its size, without warning it swung at them.

The trio had just enough time to jump out of the way as shock waves from the blow shook the entire room.

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall!” Exclaimed Amber.

Kayla raised her wand, with a whim and a whir, ropes of light erupted from her wand, wrapping themselves around the legs of the risen giant.

Amber followed, with a whim and a whir from her wand, she evoked a massive ball of fire, aiming at the skeleton’s head, she shot it out, hitting the colossus directly, shards of ember bone fragments spewed out in every direction, its club hit the ground as the giant collapsed.

Amber cheered and Kayla gave a weak chuckle as Laura raised her hand to Amber, “You know you can’t really kill the undead, right?”

The fragments of bone shook, the room trembled as each individual fragment flew across the room only to reform the colossal. Now enraged, it hurled the massive club at Amber.

Without missing a beat, Kayla raised her wand, with a whim and a whir, Amber was wrapped in a translucent protective hemisphere. The massive club hit the bubble with a resounding thud, the barrier quickly faded out and Kayla collapsed to the ground, the sheer amount of force her ward took was enough to daze her. Completely overexerted, Kayla fell forward, out cold.

Noticing that Kayla is now unconscious Laura shouts, “Distract it! Now!”

“Communicating now, are you?" Amber mocks, "This isn’t the Laura I know.”

“This is no time for banter, Kayla is imperiled, we need to distract it so I can dispel the magic holding it together.”

The colossus, now disarmed, resorted to using its feet, it swept its foot across the ground, attempting to kick Amber to the wall, but she was prepared. Amber threw her wand at the massive skeleton in another gambit, and it exploded on contact, disorienting the beast.

Seeing her chance, Laura raised her wand, with a whim and a whir, she tried to dispel the magic holding it together, channeling her own magic to tear apart the magic that kept the undead construct intact. The being held still for a moment, unable to recollect itself in time as the magic holding it together was unleashed. The bones holding it together fell apart to the ground.

The door on the opposing side of the tall room opened, allowing access to their next challenge.

Amber knelt by Kayla, waiting for her to regain consciousness while Laura waited beside her.

A few minutes passed, and Kayla jolted up, nearly headbutting Amber.

“What’s going on?! Is everything okay?!”

“Everything’s okay now... I’m so sorry Kayla, it was my fault, we should have given you a moment to rest, and the skeleton knocked your spell so hard that you passed out from the recoil... fortunately, Laura actually communicated for once/”

Laura glared at Amber

“And she dispelled the skeleton, allowing the fight to end safely.”

“Well, I’m glad everyone’s okay,” Kayla replied

“I’m sure we got this, I’m positive we’re at least half way there... I think...” noted Laura

“There can’t be too much left, right?” Amber asked, but Laura could only shrug

“It’s different for everyone,” Kayla chimed in, “so who knows how much is left.”

As the trio entered the next room, they discovered it was significantly smaller, and lit only by three glowing orbs floating in the air, each a different hue.

“Welcome to your fifth trial. There will be no additional information for this trial.”

“No additional information... what could they want from us?” Amber asked

“Who knows, but it must deal with those orbs of light... something about it feels... familiar to me somehow.” Kayla replied

“There’s seemingly so little in this room, I think I-” Laura was cut off

“I’m gonna grab one of those spheres.” said Amber, as she marched fearlessly toward one.

“No, wait!” Kayla tried to halt her, but it was too late, Amber had already grabbed one of the orbs.

“It’s sorta... warm and cuddly. You know, for a ball of light...” Amber noted

“Do you feel anything trying to take over you... or..?” asked Kayla.

“Just... really... tired...” Amber replied with a yawn, subsequently falling forward, asleep on the ground, light in hand.

The door onto the next room opened.

“Hmm, this seemed far too easy, but... perhaps that’s all it wanted? To be fearless?” Laura stated, “We should wake up Amber before advancing.”

Kayla raised her wand, with a whim and a whir, sprinkles of dust fell out of the tip of her wand, in which she let fall atop Amber, but as she did, the door closed.

Amber woke up, “What... did... did I miss anything?” Amber said, stretching briefly, the sphere still in hand. She glanced at the orb, it appeared cracked for a brief moment, but in a blink, it seemed completely fine. She tried to hold on, but the orb drifted back into the air, still within arms reach.

“When you fell asleep, the door opened,” Laura explained, “I’m not sure if we should let you sleep or if it’s something else...”

“Are you alright Amber?” Kayla asked, “I thought I heard the orb break, but it appears perfectly intact.”

“I think... I’m pretty sure, at least, that the ball actually repaired itself, I could’ve sworn I saw a crack.” Amber replied

“Let me try.” Laura said, as she reached for the orb that Amber recently held.

She grabbed onto the orb, standing in place. “I don’t really feel anything...” Laura noted, “Well, I mean, I am fairly resistant to magic so...” She stated, turning around to look at the door to the next room. The door stood in place.

Laura became unsteady, the magic slowly reaching her, she teetered back and forth before falling on her side, dropping the orb. The orb shattered onto the ground as Laura put all her weight on it, trying to keep awake.

The door opened slightly but closed as the orb recollected the shattered pieces, forming back into a sphere once more.

“It looks...” Laura stated, with a yawn, “It looks like we have to break all the orbs at the same time before they can repair themselves.”

“But it seems that the orbs will just put you to sleep, how will we wake up... or...?” Kayla replied, but she was suddenly interrupted by Amber unleashing a blood-curdling scream.

The two turned around, to see Amber, kneeling down on the ground, clenching her hand. “KAYLAAAAAAAAH!” she squealed, barely able to make out a coherent phrase.

Kayla sprinted over, pressing her wand over Amber’s hand, Amber let out a sigh of relief as Kayla held her hand, examining it for any wounds.

Kayla sighed softly, “It was just an agony spell, you didn’t suffer any real physical damage... Amber, you need to be a little less reckless, your impulsiveness has caused a lot of problems you know, and I won't always be here to save you, I mean, I’ll try, but there are times when I simply won't be by your side.”

Amber exhaled slowly, slightly miffed at the truth in the statement, “Fine, I supposed I should try to be a little less reckless, but come on, it works out in the end, most of the time anyway.”

“Sometimes the consequences may be irreversible, what if that was a death orb?” Laura replied, “I mean, I do have a detect magic spell, but you didn’t give me any time to consider anything. All of this, 'Oh, lets grab the orbs and worry about the consequences later' really distracts me.”

“Alright, just tell us what the last orb is then.” Amber replied

Kayla glowered at Amber.

“...please?”

Laura walked over to the orb in the middle, with a whim and a whir, she raised her wand over the orb and spent a moment examining it.

“Paralysis, I’m confident it’s paralysis.” Laura stated.

“Prepare a cleanse paralysis Kayla, I’m going to see if Laura’s right.”

Kayla raised her wand, with a whim and a whir she readied a spell.

Amber fearlessly grasped the orb, she waited a moment, but nothing happened.

“There’s some serious delay-” Amber was petrified mid-sentence.

Kayla unleashed her spell against Amber, immediately she regained control of herself and let go of the orb.

“Let me think, we know what each orb does now, so how will we break all of them at the same time?” Laura thought out loud. “Kayla can’t dispel agony when it’s a continuous effect... but you can give protection against sleep, right?

Kayla nodded

“And Amber... stoneskin gives you protection from paralysis, right? I’m sure you have learned stoneskin”

Amber thought for a moment, “Right, I think it does actually.”

“Great, then that just leaves me... with the agony orb...” Laura let out a disgruntled sigh. “Alright, every one into position, we need to make this quick, I’m sure we all know how horrible agony can be, especially if it’s an extended experience... that can be lethal...”

The trio lined themselves up against their respective orb.

“Cast what you need to now.”

Amber raised her wand, with a whim and a whir, her skin hardened into stone. Kayla followed, raising her wand, with a whim and a whir, her head was wrapped inside a translucent bubble.

“Throw it against the ground with everything you have, I don’t want to do this multiple times”

“NOW!”

All at once, the three of them grabbed the orb and hurled it against the floor with all their might. Laura hesitated briefly, but was able to regain control quick enough and through her tears, she managed to break the orb on the ground with the rest of her friends.

Kayla rushed over, pressing her wand against Laura’s hand, as relief washed over her and the pain subsided.

“Thank you, Kayla...” Laura sighed.

The door on the opposing side of the room opened, and the trio was allowed passage to their next trial.

The next room was fairly standard size compared to the previous rooms, lit by its own source of light.

“Welcome to your sixth trial, here we’ll test your ability to take out foes in a dampened magic arena.”

“Dampened magic... I hate low magic, it’s so annoying.” Amber pouted

“It could be worse, it could be a null magic field.” Laura replied

A duo of harpies flew from the sky, their razor talons ready to shred through skin and bone.

“Harpies! Watch out for their claws!” Kayla shouted, “I... I can’t protect more than one of you guys!”

“Kayla watch out!” Laura shouted, with a whim and a whir from her wand, she attempted to bind one of the harpies wings to her torso. Her magic was barely strong enough to keep them chained long enough for the harpy to fall to the ground.

Amber threw her wand at the harpy that is not yet prone, the explosion, while much weaker, was enough to burn the harpy a fair amount. She sprinted to get her wand back as quickly as possible. “My explosive wand can’t keep them at bay forever, this too will eventually be too much for me.”

The enraged harpy dove toward Amber.

Kayla reacted quickly, raising her wand with a whim and a whir, she protected Amber within another barrier. The harpy crashed against Amber as she picked up her wand, raising it with a whim and a whir she began to evoke a fireball strong enough to slay the harpy.

The other harpy broke free of its bindings, but Laura had the advantage, as she was already firing a small barrage of arcane missiles at the harpy. The harpy, unflinching, dove toward Laura.

Kayla strained as she brought upon another barrier to Laura as the harpy frantically scratched at the dome.

“Kayla! Watch out!” Amber shouted

The harpy that was attacking Amber was now firing a barrage of feather needles at Kayla.

Unwilling to transfer one of the barriers to herself, Kayla took the full force of each individual needle penetrating her cloak.

Amber managed to evoke fire strong enough to defeat the harpy that was harassing her, but it was too late, Kayla had already taken a serious injury.

Thinking quickly, Laura jutted her wand through the barrier, stabbing the harpy that was attacking her. The wand drained barely enough energy to disorient the monster for a brief moment. Laura raised her wand, straining herself significantly, with a whim and a whir, she bound the harpy again, this time in stronger shackles.

Laura staggered her way to Kayla, resting her wand on her, transferring the drained life into her as she passed out from exhaustion.

“Amber... quickly..! to my side!” Kalya barked

Amber rushed over, as fast as she could, given her fatigue.

“We have to unite our magic, we can’t finish it off separately...”

“Right” Amber replied, “Take my hand, I’ll channel the fire, you just help me empower it.”

The harpy struggled to break free of the binds, but Laura put every last drop of energy into entangling it.

Amber raised her wand, with a whim and a whir, the two strained, and conjured up a ball of fire. Amber shot the flame at the harpy. The harpy shrieked as it burned and the shackles holding it was broken, but it wasn’t enough to defeat her.

Kayla passed out from exhaustion, and the harpy, still determined to finish the job, was crawling toward the trio.

Amber didn’t have enough strength to cast any spells, in a desperate attempt, she tossed her wand, it barely landed a few feet in front of her, lifelessly on the ground.

Amber grit her teeth as the harpy still crawled her way toward the incapacitated trio, as it grew closer to the wand, Amber released her magic, a puff of smoke emerged, flameless, but the continuous smoke was enough to suffocate the harpy as the beast collapsed on the ground, defeated. Amber's wand slowly rolled back to her.

Amber was exhausted, she slowly looked into her cloak, and quickly uncorked a potion. Was it worth smuggling this to the trial she pondered, ready to drink it. As she weighed her choices, she glanced over at Kayla, her friend was nearly gone, as much as she needed the potion herself, Kayla needed it more, and she was willing to give up her strength to keep her friend safe. She lifted Kayla’s chin and poured the contents down her throat.

The trio slept for an extended period of time

Amber woke up before the others, the three of them were piled up on Kayla. Amber stretched but was suddenly taken aback by her aching pain.

“Right, too much magic... I strained myself so hard... dampened magic is such a pain..” Amber thought to herself, unable to talk for the time being.

Laura was still lying atop Kayla, so Amber gently set her aside to take a look at Kayla.

There were several barbed needles sticking out of Kayla’s back, the blood dried a long time ago.

Amber thought to herself if using magic to take out the wands was worth it, because she had already given her the potion. Remembering all the things Kayla had done, it most definitely was.

Taking a deep sigh, Amber raised her wand, with a whim and a whir, she shook her wand above the needles, one by one, they melted and harmlessly fell out of Kayla’s back.

Amber closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

Even more time passed and there was a loud blaring sound, and the room was flashing red. Amber jolted up,

“You will fail the trial if you fail to proceed to the next room.”

“GUYS! GET UP! WE’RE BEEN ASLEEP FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG AND WE’RE ABOUT TO BREAK THE TIME LIMIT!” Amber shouted

“Less than one minute remains”

“Huh, what?” Kayla replied groggily

“Oh no! The time limit!” Laura exclaimed, “Each room has a 36-hour time limit, we’ve been asleep for nearly 2 days!”

“Less than one minute remains”

The three of them stood up, collecting themselves as they rushed to the next room.

The room was dark and silent for a moment

“Kayla,” Amber said, breaking the stillness, “You should be more careful with yourself next time, I really do appreciate your kindness and selflessness, but you really need to think about yourself from time to time, you are just as important as we are, and you need to think of yourself as part of the team and not an expendable pawn. I know you could have transferred the barrier on myself to you, I just want you to be safe. Always remember to think about your safety too.”

“But... but what about your spell?” Kayla replied.

“I was finished with it by the time the harpy attacked you, I was fine, just remember Laura and I are not the only two in the team.”

Kayla nodded

A spotlight emerged, revealing a book on a pedestal

“Welcome to your final trial. We’re glad you’ve made it this far. Here we’ll test your ability to work as a team despite any hardships.”

“Wait, let me use my detect magic,” Laura said as she raised her wand. With a whim and a whir, she focused her intent on examining the book, “Strange, I don’t sense anything...”

The trio advanced toward the pedestal. The book flipped open, pages turned and written text was already on the pages.

“One of you have been dishonest with your feelings toward another.”

“What does that mean? I’ve been honest about my feelings toward you guys, and I thought you were doing the same...” Kayla replied

“Hold on, we don’t know if this book tells the truth.” Amber stated

“Or if it means feelings between us because I’ll be honest, I tell my brother he’s a smart guy, but honestly I fear for him, he’s really simple sometimes.”

The book turned to the next page, “And so is your word, let it be heard.”

“Does that mean this book is going to tell my brother what I just said?” Laura asked sheepishly.

“Well, I think you did what it wanted, let’s not think about what could go wrong, we need to finish this, we’re almost done!” Kayla replied

The book turned to the next page, “One of you has done what should not be done.”

“Necromancy? Come on, I got the okay from my parents! I just... didn't talk to it too much with Andrea...” Laura stated.

Nothing happens.

“I’ve been talking to Constantine a lot when you guys aren’t around.” Kayla blurted

“What?! Talking?! Constantine?” Laura replied, confused, “He’s mute how are you talking to him? You know how your parents feel about you talking to boys!”

“I know, it just happened... It was after class one day, I’ve had a crush on him for such a long time that I made an effort to learn sign language to understand him.”

The trio looked at the book, but nothing happened.

Kayla blushed, “Sorry Mom, sorry Dad.”

“Ugh, fine, I cheated... I snuck in and drank a vigor potion after the dampened magic fight, it was all me.” Amber muttered

Kayla and Laura gasped.

“You brought in a vigor potion?!” Laura shouted, “We’re going to be in so much trouble!”

“I know... I... I was just... I was weak, I snuck one in, I know it’s not allowed here, but I wanted to make sure we’d get through... and... and after that fight, I knew I was so tired... I’m so sorry, I’ve put our entire trial at stake.”

The page turned, “Let it be said, soon you’ll be dead. A price to pay for the rest to stay.”

The book violently began jumping atop the pedestal, the trio slowly backed away.

The book turned around, razor teeth emerged from the cover as it formed a mouth-like shape.

“Mimic! It’s a strong one too, I couldn’t even detect it.” Laura stated.

“If... if I sacrifice myself, the rest can go..?”

“Amber, you don’t have to, we can just forfeit now and retake it in a year or the next one after that.” Kayla replied

“No, we’ll be in so much trouble, they definitely know I cheated now...”

“It’s not worth it. We win as a team, we lose as a team, that’s why we came together, remember?” Laura replied

The book is jumping violently, slowly encroaching on Amber.

“Right! Let’s show this mimic why we’re here to stay!” Amber shouted

The trio raised their wands, with a whim and a whir, they each fired a powerful barrage of magic at the mimic.

The mix of Amber’s fire, Laura’s wave of decay, and Kayla’s searing light crashed upon the book.

Smoke subsided, but the book was completely unscathed.

“It... It’s resisting our magic! I knew it was powerful, but I had no idea it was this resilient!” Laura exclaimed.

“Grab my hand, we are stronger when we’re together! Remember, we’re a team, not 3 individuals working in tandem.” Kayla replied

Kayla held out her hands, Amber and Laura joined in. “Think, what’s the strongest spell we have combined?”

“Disintegrate!” They all shouted in unison.

Laura and Amber thrusted their free arm out as deadly magic flew threw them. A bolt of raw, unstable arcane energy emerged from the two, completely annihilating the mimic by the sheer force of power the three had spent.

A scorch mark was left on the ground were the book once was. The trio collapsed onto the ground, completely exhausted again from the exertion of their magic.

“Phew, that was fun.” Amber gasped.

“We used up basically everything we had, I hope that’s all.” Laura replied.

The entire room lit up, and the roof of the tower opened, allowing fresh air to pour in.

“This is it, right? We did it! Right?”

An orb of light flew in from the sky.

In a flash, a well-groomed man appeared, his brown hair marked with grey streaks.

“Archmage Arav!” The trio said in unison.

“Ah, so you have finished the tower of trials, It’s always exciting to see students emerge victorious.”

“So... you’re not mad that I cheated?” Amber asked sheepishly.

“Mad? Of course not! We knew you had that potion on you the entire time, and the act of selflessness when you gave it to your friend, we made sure that you’d make it through the night, after all, we still have an impact here even though you can’t tell.” Arav replied. “The important thing is that you were honest, you were even willing to take the entire blame.”

“You... you gave me your vigor potion?” Kayla asked, “I... I didn’t even notice...”

Amber nodded her head softly, “Yeah, I did, I knew it’s not for everyone, but you needed it, despite any consequences that might have emerged.”

“The three of you showed tremendous bravery, skill, and teamwork. I am proud to announce each of you, Amber, Kayla, and Laura, official graduates of RiverFalls Aracna Academy! I know you will do well out there, for your journey is not yet complete, it has only just begun.”


End file.
